Proud Failures to Proud Parents - NaruHina month 2016
by xHinaLovex
Summary: My contribution for NaruHina month 2016. Some cute, some not so much, some canon, and some AU. Just a smattering of stories to celebrate my favorite couple.
1. Anniversary

**Well guys, it's NaruHina month again! This is up pretty late, but I wasn't actually planning to participate this month until my husband talked me into it earlier today. I can't promise I'll do all the prompts since my job is insane lately and I have some chapters I've been trying to finish for my other stories, but I'll do what I can. Even though I started this about an hour ago I'm really excited about how it turned out. I hope you like it, too :-)**

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 **Day One: Anniversary**

There are many words one could use to describe Uzumaki Naruto. - blonde, boisterous, bold. He was also known to be rather excitable. That particular trait is what most people attributed his rather over the top actions toward Hyuga Hinata to. Since the two shinobi had become a couple, Naruto had taken to celebrating every little landmark in their relationship.

Every single one.

It started with the one week anniversary. He had brought her a bouquet consisting of every different flower he could find around Konoha. He figured she could press them in her book. The blush on her cheeks when he presented the bouquet - and the subsequent rash she developed from one of the flowers he'd unknowingly picked from the Konoha T&I greenhouse - were pretty unforgettable.

For their one month anniversary he'd set up a picnic on top of the Hokage monument. A book he'd borrowed from Sai told him that picnics were considered very romantic. Hinata hadn't complained a bit when their romantic evening meal in the freezing winter weather had caused her to develop the flu. Then again, she did have a very doting - and apologetic - boyfriend who kept her stocked with warm ramen and all of the medicine from the pharmacy's cold and flu section. She even returned the favor when he inevitably caught it from taking care of her.

For their two month anniversary, he'd kept things indoors. He'd rented a room at a karaoke bar and serenaded her for an hour with love songs. Ino had happily supplied him with a list of the most popular love songs from the latest artists and he'd practiced til he was blue in the face. Naruto actually had many more songs than just an hour's worth, but the parties on either side of their room had complained about the noise to the manager on duty, who had apologetically turned off their speakers, but offered the couple free food in exchange. Hinata had placated a rather frustrated and embarrassed Naruto by telling him that time with him was enough for her.

For their three month anniversary, Hinata had been on a mission with her team. Not wanting to miss the date despite the distance, Naruto had sent one of his summons with flowers (pre-approved by Ino this time) and a box of her favorite cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately Team Eight had been about to ambush the targets they had been tracking and the sudden appearance of two massive and colorful toads had given their positions away. Years of teamwork and hard earned prowess prevented any injuries, but Kiba and Shino had given Naruto an earful when the team had returned. He was beside himself realizing that Hinata - someone he cared for more than anyone he ever had before - could have been hurt or worse, but she just smiled and told him she appreciated the gesture and that she knew he didn't mean to cause any problems.

Months passed and their anniversaries continued in much the same manner. Again, most attributed the constant celebrations to the blond's excitable nature and the fact that he was finally in a relationship. The real reason, however, ran much deeper.

Naruto was so thankful for Hinata. He loved her and he had almost lost her to that damned Toneri after finally realizing his feelings for her. She had loved and supported him for most of their lives and he, not having any experience in the field of relationships, had been completely oblivious and chased after his teammate.

Now that they were together he wanted her to know, needed her to understand that she was everything to him. He wanted to make up for all that time he had spent running after Sakura, all his flamboyant attempts to get his pink haired teammate to go out with him. All those times he had brushed off Hinata's obvious affections as the actions of a comrade and unknowingly hurt her still haunted him so he was determined to show her that he would try even harder for her, even if he didn't have to try to earn her love.

Soon December, the month of Christmas and Hinata's birthday arrived. He'd spent months looking for the perfect gifts - making sure to get one for each special occasion as he knew how often people would forget about her birthday in favor of the more widely celebrated holiday.

Naruto had attended the massive Hyuga Christmas Eve dinner. Guests usually did not have the honor of sitting with the head family, but Hiashi had made an exception - no doubt convinced by his eldest daughter. The family dinner had brought tears to his eyes after years of spending the holiday alone.

Christmas itself had been even better. Hinata had surprised Naruto that morning by showing up at his apartment with more breakfast than even he could eat. They sat next to the tree they had decorated together and exchanged gifts, then settled in for a day of watching movies, snuggling, and other more _pleasurable_ activities.

For her birthday he had planned a surprise party. He had their friends waiting in a decorated room. He'd put up a silencing barrier around the entrance so she wouldn't be able to hear anything and told them not to turn on the lights until he arrived with the birthday girl and dispelled the barrier.

Naruto blindfolded his girlfriend and carried her to the location so she couldn't use the walk to figure out where they were going. Everything had gone perfectly until he had decided to give her a little speech before removing her blindfold. He confessed how deeply he loved her and how this was his favorite day because it was the day she was born and he didn't even want to imagine what his life would be like without her.

Hinata was overcome by his words - and may have misunderstood what he meant by a special night - and had uncharacteristically jumped him. Naruto's mind went blank - as tended to happen when things started to get heated between them - and things began to escalate. It wasn't until their friends dispelled the silencing barrier themselves and had turned on the light that Sakura's uncomfortable clearing of her throat brought Naruto and Hinata out of their passionate embrace. He had quickly removed his hands from where they had been and helped Hinata hastily retie her kimono. The poor girl's face had been an unhealthy shade of scarlet and he apologized profusely for getting carried away and not telling her what he had planned or that there had been witnesses to what she had assumed was a private moment.

It had taken her longer to recover from her embarrassment than it had for her to forgive him. After all, she hadn't had a birthday party since she was a little girl and it was sweet of him to plan that for her. Later that evening, as he walked her home he apologized again for what had happened.

"I'm so sorry, Hinata. I swear I didn't mean for that to happen. I didn't realize how it sounded and then I just got so excited, I mean you _were_ pretty forceful, and it was seriously hot, and I kinda forgot they were there and - "

Hinata put her finger on his lips to stop him.

"It's fine. You know I could never be mad at you for long, Naruto-kun."

The blond put his free hand behind his head and chuckled sheepishly.

"I guess. I feel like these things just never go like I hope they will. You know I just want you to know how much I love ya, right?"

Hinata blushed. She would never get tired of hearing him say it.

"I know. It's strange to think it'll be a year in just a few days."

Naruto stopped, all blood draining from his face. A year. Their year anniversary was in a few days and he had nothing planned. _Nada_. He'd been so focused on Christmas and her birthday that he'd completely forgotten about their year anniversary.

How could he be so stupid?! He'd made such a big deal out of every single month and now it was going to be a whole year and he'd managed to forget? Shit. Shit shit shit.

He was pulled out of his panic by the soft voice of his beloved.

"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about it. I know you really enjoy planning things for us and I really appreciate everything you've done, but I was kind of hoping you'd let me do something for you for a change? If you already have something planned I understand, I just thought it would be nice to let me surprise you for once."

His heart started beating again and he tried not to make his shaky, relieved breath too obvious.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, that'd be fine. I mean, it's whatever you want to do. I can always save it for later…"

He was so busy hoping he'd sounded convincing that he missed the relieved breath Hinata released at his acceptance to let her plan their year anniversary. She was really hoping for a special evening without incident.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. I promise I'll make it worth it," she said with a smile.

He smiled back at her, still amazed at how perfect she was for him and said, "You already are."

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 **Cheesy last line? Yeah, but I think these guys are too cute. I hope you laughed a little at my story because I definitely did while writing it. I can definitely see something like this happening. Let me know what you think and I'll see you next time!**


	2. Mission Together

**I'm back! Let me know what you think. This one was fun, as well :-)**

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 **Day Two: Mission Together**

Hinata had always dreamed of the day Naruto would return her feelings. She'd created various scenarios throughout her childhood of what it would be like if he actually ever felt the same about her as she did for him. Never in any of her wildest dreams did it involve a distant relative from the moon, but nevertheless Naruto had finally said it and even sealed it with a kiss.

Just remembering his words and the kiss they shared in front of the moon made her face flush with giddiness. Her blush receded, however, and was replaced by furrowed brows as she thought of the months following his profession.

The damage done to their world and the resulting chaos that followed the near destruction of their planet had increased the shinobi mission load drastically. They were sent on missions to repair towns, hunt groups of bandits or raiders, smooth over various disputes that cropped up regarding property damage, etc. Because of this, she and Naruto had been consistently out of the village on separate missions for three months.

On the rare occasions they did meet, one was usually coming while the other was going. They would greet the other awkwardly - she would utter a shy "hello" while he'd rub the back of his head awkwardly and respond with a "hey". Once they weren't sure how to end their short conversation so he reached out for a hug and she started to bow. They then corrected to mirror what the other was doing and so on. Their bumbling attempts at conversations stayed just that - attempts and before they knew it, it had been months since they had a real conversation.

One morning Hinata woke up to find she had been summoned to the Hokage's office yet again. She dressed quickly and made her way across town to the tower. When she entered the room her eyes immediately took notice of a familiar blond sitting in front of Kakashi's desk. She bit her lip out of nervousness and walked over to stand behind the other chair.

"Hyuga Hinata reporting for duty, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi just waved at her and told to take a seat. Lavender eyes stole a glance at the young man next to her, but quickly snapped forward at seeing he was looking back at her. The Hokage's eyes glittered with mirth as he watched a blush come to the cheeks of both shinobi seated before him.

"Well, I guess I should probably tell you why you two are here. We've had a request from a popular vacation spot. It seems someone has been robbing their more wealthy clients. One couple was roughed up a bit so they seem to think it's a common robber, but a quick review of the situation makes it seem likely that it's an inside job."

He nodded towards Hinata. "Your Byakugan should be extremely useful for this."

The Hyuga nodded in agreement.

"I've procured a room for the two of you at the hotel. You will be posing as wealthy newlyweds on their honeymoon for the investigation. Only the owner who requested the mission knows about it. For all intents and purposes you will have to act the part perfectly."

Hinata's cheeks flushed a rosy pink and Naruto began to protest, "But Kakashi-sensei! That's -"

"Do you have a problem with the assignment, Naruto?" the Hokage asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hinata's Byakugan has a key role to play, but I can always assign her a different partner. Perhaps Kiba or Shino would - "

"NO!" Naruto yelled out so suddenly that Hinata's eyes widened and mouth opened in surprise. Kakashi merely smirked beneath the mask.

"I'll do it. I just didn't want Hinata to feel awkward or forced into something like this, that's all."

"She's a shinobi just like yourself. Her noble background will help you two to blend into the rather extravagant accommodations and her doujutsu will help you investigate without having to be obvious about it."

"I accept, Hokage-sama," Hinata interjected before they could continue to talk about her. "I am perfectly willing and able to complete this assignment."

She sounded a little terse and Naruto was afraid he'd upset her. 'Great,' he thought with a sigh. With things the way they were between them he hadn't wanted to force anything on her. It wasn't that he didn't think she would be able to do the job. He knew better than most just how strong she was. The Uzumaki nodded his acceptance of the task as well and they confirmed their departure time and any further details before leaving to pack.

Kakashi watched them leave with twinkle in his eye. He knew they hadn't had much time to themselves since the mission to the moon. He hoped this would help them work through whatever was going on between them. After all, this situation was perfect for it. It was right out of one of Jiraiya-sama's _Icha Icha_ books. Speaking of, it was about time to indulge in his mid-morning reading break.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata had changed into their undercover clothing in a town about fifteen miles away from the hotel and had procured a carriage to take them the rest of the way, in order to keep up appearances.

The ride was silent, uncomfortably so. Both had started to reach for the other's hand a couple of times, but stopped, oblivious that their companion wanted the same thing. When the carriage came to a stop, however, Hinata had taken a deep breath and steeled herself. She wasn't sure where they were personally, but they had a job to do.

They easily slipped into character as he helped her out of the carriage and escorted her through the entrance. Their act was merely both doing as they wished they could with the other in normal circumstances.

Hinata rested her head on his shoulder as he relished the feeling of wrapping his arm possessively around her waist. There were a couple of men sitting in the lobby, sharing a bottle of sake and talking. When their eyes found his "wife" they started to elbow one another and whisper. Naruto merely smirked internally. At that moment, he felt like the luckiest guy alive.

He glanced down and met the eyes of his companion and didn't stop himself when he felt the urge to capture her lips with his. He pulled away quicker than he would have liked - they were in public after all and had to act a little proper, at least - but her blush and wide eyes made his chest swell with pride. It was the confirmation he had been needing to know she still cared for him.

It was later in the evening when they arrived so after checking in they headed straight to their room to get settled. When Hinata saw Naruto spreading one of the spare blankets over the couch she walked over and put her hand on his arm.

"What are you doing, Naruto-kun?"

"Well I figured I would take the couch so you could have the bed. You're the girl, after all. Ero-sennin always said… you know what, nevermind," he said with a blush, remembering that the whole lesson was more crude than noble sounding. "I just want you to have the bed so you take it. I'll be fine here."

"But you're supposed to be my h-hus-, um-"

"Husband?" Naruto supplied with a large grin. She was stuttering again!

"Yes," she said quietly. "Wouldn't it look suspicious if they somehow figured out that you slept on the couch?"

"Are you saying you want me to sleep with you?"

The words were out of his mouth before he realized how it sounded. Hinata's face flared red and she became a stuttering mess while he tried to backtrack.

"Not like that! I mean I'd like to sleep with you - er _next_ to you. Just sleeping! And maybe some cuddling… or not! Whatever you're comfortable with."

Hinata had started to calm down, her mind creating more scenarios than she could possibly keep up with. This was seriously straight out of the pages of one of Jiraiya-sama's _Icha Icha_ books - not that she would ever admit to having read them. She'd just been trying to research the kind of person who had taken Naruto out of the village for two years, that's all. The plots really were rather intriguing.

They'd fallen asleep on complete opposite ends of the large bed, but had woken up entangled in each other's arms. The feeling of waking up while enjoying the heat and scent of their most loved one was better than either of them could ever have dreamed. Blushes and nuzzles had turned into sweet kisses and delighted sighs.

The barriers between them had quickly fallen after that.

* * *

The mission only lasted a week. The pair easily caught the maid and her boyfriend who had been stealing. In fact, the Konoha shinobi may have put off the actual capture a couple of days in order to make the most of their stay. Luckily the owner had been so thankful that the situation had been handled without scandal or harm to his business that he gave them a free pass to come back for another week whenever they liked. He even winked at them as they departed, still hand in hand despite no longer being undercover.

Back in Konoha a silver haired Hokage giggled at the thank you sent to him by hawk from the owner. It seems the man thought he was a genius for sending a genuine newlywed shinobi couple to do the job. Those two were never going to hear the end of his teasing.

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 **Hehe awkward Hinata and Naruto are my favorite. Let me know what you thought! All the follows and favorites and reviews are fuel in the creative fire!**


	3. Superhero AU

***Edit - proofed and re-uploaded since I was having trouble with the original upload***

 **Oh my goodness guys. I wasn't going to do today's theme because I know almost nothing about superhero lore aside from Batman and I could not imagine how to use that. And then it hit me and I went a little crazy. So read it! I'm excited!**

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 **Day Three: Superhero AU**

Hinata still had nightmares about that night. The night her caretaker Ko rushed into her room, removing one of the built-in bookshelves from the wall and pulling her behind it, before using two metal handles to pull the bookshelf back into place, sealing them in a very small dark space.

She'd never even known it existed. She was still tired, and a little confused, but at the sound of two gunshots in the room right next to hers - her little sister's room - she began to struggle.

Ko held her close with one arm and clamped his hand over her mouth.

"You have to be quiet, miss. Please be quiet."

Soon footsteps could be heard in her room, slow and careful. They could hear her bed being pushed to the side and her closet door being opened. Soon a muffled, "Little bugger must have made a run for it," was heard and the footsteps receded from the room.

Her fear rooted her into place, but as soon as she realized the footsteps were leaving her room she made the connection that they were likely headed down the hall to her big brother's room. Neji! She had to get to Neji before anything happened to him!

Hinata struggled further, going so far as to step on her beloved caretaker's foot and try to elbow him in the stomach, but he had a solid grip on her wisp of a twelve year old body.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, miss, but orders are orders," he whispered. "Everyone has their orders and these are mine. Please let me keep you safe."

Soon enough another couple of gunshots rang out along with some shouting. She could only hope Neji or his caretaker were putting up a fight. Tears leaked from her eyes and she could vaguely register Ko apologizing and hugging her tightly.

More voices sounded in the hall.

"Little bastard knocked me in the head!"

"He's dead now so calm the fuck down. We still have to find the middle one."

Hinata collapsed to her knees at the revelation that her big brother was dead. She choked back her sobs as the footsteps sounded once again in her room - more of them this time.

"Where do you think she could have gone? And what the hell happened to your silencer, huh? She probably heard you knock off her sister and made a run for it!"

"That's not important now! We just need to find her. She couldn't have gotten far."

"Look the window's unlocked. Do you think she jumped out of there?"

"Two stories is a long way to go for a little girl. Then again, there are some bushes down there. Let's send someone to check."

She wasn't sure how long she'd stayed there. Eventually she'd passed out from the trauma. Ko had kept watch over her for hours. She wouldn't find out until the next day that he had been stabbed in the side by one of the attackers, but had dutifully stayed awake, applying pressure to his wound with a shirt he had grabbed out of one of her drawers, and keeping watch while she slept.

She wondered if he was the only one of the caretakers to get to anyone. Did that make her lucky? The pain she felt at being the only one of her immediate family left alive sure didn't seem like something she'd attribute to luck.

Konoha mourned the loss of Hiashi and Hikari Hyuga, as well as their children Hanabi and Neji. Hiashi and Hikari were the owners of Hyuga Enterprises, and important philanthropists in their town. They and their children were often seen in public, at charity events and sometimes serving food in homeless shelters. Their deaths were considered tragedies.

Ko and Hinata were questioned for hours. The police tried everything, even hypnosis, to see if they could get any further information but the case went cold without any solid leads. Eventually people forgot about the tragedy - it was a pretty harsh city, after all, and everyone had their own tragedies to worry about.

Hinata and Ko lived alone in the Hyuga mansion. He'd convinced her to try private school once, but trouble with bullies caused him to pull her out rather quickly. He became her educator as well as her caretaker. They hired someone to take care of the grounds, but no one was allowed inside the house. Ko was paranoid that the attackers had had some inside help, despite the fact that all live in staff besides him had been found dead. He didn't want to take any risks.

Hinata was a lonely teen. She spent her time studying and training. After what happened to her family, and what happened with those awful boys at her school, she never wanted to feel helpless again.

As soon as she was of age she took over the family business. However, suddenly being a part of the world again was a hard transition. This transition was made even harder by her sudden look into the corruption of her city. She'd sometimes hear her parents speaking in quiet voices about various issues within Konoha, but her mother had always told her that the city could be fixed with enough love. That's why they had spent so much time organizing charity functions or helping out at various shelters.

Extreme wealth gives one a particular vantage. And from that vantage, an eighteen year old Hinata Hyuga could see that much more than a little love was needed to fix the mess that was her city. So she trained harder, and studied police reports and crime statistics, as well as investigative techniques, and two years later she emerged as the Lioness. Named for one of her signature attacks, the underworld of Konoha began to fear the masked woman who would appear at night and thwart criminals big and small. Inspector Tsunade had even created a signal she would flash in the night sky of a roaring lion when the police needed or wanted her help.

This particular night, however, Hinata was not playing the part of the Lioness. Tonight she was Hinata Hyuga, head of Hyuga Enterprises and philanthropist. She was attending a grand gala that she organized personally each year. It raised money for a multitude of causes - orphanages, homeless shelters, battered women shelters, mental healthcare initiatives, etc.

Dressed in a shimmering black ballgown, she was the very picture of beauty and poise. She greeted everyone with a polite smile, occasionally agreeing to a dance or two. At the end of one particular song, she was whisked out of the reach of the business associate she had been dancing with and into the arms of a tall blond she knew very well.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Blue eyes twinkled down at her, raking in the sight of the black gown against her pale skin. The dress was cut low enough to entice, without exposing her ample bosom to the sight of those around them. He, however, knew very well what was underneath and the small glimpse was all he needed to remember. He bit back a groan at the memories.

He pulled her close as the tempo became slow and smirked as she allowed his hand to dip just lower than her waist. No one else was allowed that privilege.

Hinata couldn't fight the slight blush that came to her cheeks. She could hardly believe the manner in which he had taken her from her coworker. An apologetic glance his way confirmed there were no hard feelings which she was thankful for. Then again, taking things was Uzumaki's specialty.

Naruto Uzumaki, or Kyubi, was a notorious criminal in Konoha. He specialized in burglary mostly. He planned elaborate heists and was almost never apprehended. There had been a couple jobs that even Hinata had not been able to figure out, but she knew it was him from the calling card he always left in place of the object stolen - a small card depicting a fox with nine tails.

He was a talented thief. He was also one of the few who knew of her hidden identity.

She had met him when she was still a teenager. He had actually been the one to rescue her from the bullies during her short stint in private school. Naruto was an orphan like her, but raised himself on the streets. He had been walking by the entrance of the school grounds that day, hoping to pick the pocket of one of the rich students, when he'd heard a few boys yelling at a girl. She was on the ground, crying, as they accused her of thinking she was better than them. They told her that since her family was gone no one would ever love her, even going so far as claiming she must have had them killed herself in order to gain wealth and sympathy.

Naruto had heard enough.

He rushed in, ruthlessly beating the crap out of the three boys who had been taunting her. They were on the ground and unconscious in just a couple of minutes. He snuck their wallets out of their pockets and stuffed them into his own while turning around to check on the girl.

Wide lavender eyes stared at the scene in front of her and he flinched, ready to be called a monster. Instead she looked up at him with wonder and thanked him. _Him_. He'd just beaten three kids to a bloody pulp and robbed them and she was actually thanking him.

He shuffled his feet awkwardly before noticing her cheek was red and a little swollen. Tch. Those bastards actually laid a hand on her. He didn't have much, but he had a bandaid on him which he held out to her. She tilted her head in curiosity and he gruffly said, "Your cheek. It's a little messed up."

As if just realizing it, the girl with the beautiful eyes had reached up to touch it, hissing at the painful contact.

"You should find some ice or something. Otherwise it'll really smart tomorrow."

She just nodded and smiled - smiled! - at him. If it hadn't been so odd he would have been stunned by the way her face lit up as she smiled.

Before he could say anything further he heard a man's yell.

"Hinata! Miss Hinata!"

Naruto looked up and saw a man running toward them. He also had large pupilless eyes, but they weren't the same pretty color as the girl in front of him. Not wanting to get caught with three wallets that weren't his he readied himself to jump the fence. Before he could get a leg up, however, she had grabbed his sleeve.

"Um, c-can I know your name?"

He looked at her, then at the man who was now only a few steps away. He debated whether it would be a good idea to give out his name, but decided he had nothing to fear from her.

"Naruto. It's Naruto."

"Thank you again, Naruto," she said sweetly, and he didn't realize the redness in her cheeks was now due to a blush. He just nodded at her and hopped the fence, quickly darting down the next alley and up to the rooftops to hide.

The man, Ko, had found him a couple weeks later. He didn't know how he'd found him, but he didn't ask when he'd handed him a few hundred dollars. Ko had said his mistress was determined to thank him and offered to have him over for dinner. He didn't seem particularly pleased by the idea, but Naruto thought it could be a trap anyway, and had declined.

They'd met again, years later, but he had been the first to realize who she was. It was her eyes - those beautiful eyes he sometimes saw in his dreams. The first eyes to look at him with gratitude and kindness. This time, however, most of her face was hidden behind a mask and they were in hand to hand combat atop a casino. He had just pulled off another heist and she was there to catch him.

She managed to get his hood off, but the shock of blond hair that revealed itself made her go still.

"N-naruto?" she whispered quietly, almost reverently as if she was seeing someone from her dreams. Her melodic voice confirmed what he had suspected. Knowing he'd been made already, he removed his goggles and flashed a roguish smile her say.

"Nice to see you again, beautiful. It's been a while." His eyes roved up and down her spandex clad body and he had to pretend not to be affected. "You've really grown," he said.

Her eyes widened behind the mask and her breath hitched. The boy she remembered, the one she idolized and used as inspiration whenever training had gotten too difficult, was gone and in his place stood an extremely attractive young man. His surly, boyish countenance had turned into a stunningly chiseled visage. She was stunned by the beauty of his smile and the forwardness of his comment.

"I see you can take care of yourself now," he added, reminding her of the position they were in. She hesitated, torn between her duty and the idea of taking down the boy she'd been crushing on since he saved her that day.

"You don't want this money," he said, sensing her hesitation. "It's dirty money. The asshole in charge runs a sex trafficking ring."

Her mouth dropped open at the information. The man in charge of the casino was a well respected man in the high society of Konoha.

"I know, I know. You rich people have a hard time imagining not all of you got that way on family money or hard work. I'm just taking dirty money from a scumbag - he's the one you should be after."

"But - I don't - um.." Hinata cursed herself for letting her bashful nature come back. She knew it was useless to act any other way in front of the handsome man before her, though.

"Look, I'll make it easy for you," Kyubi said while stepping up onto the ledge of the roof.

She couldn't even get the "what" out of her mouth before he fell backwards off the building.

"Naruto!" she screamed, terrified that he'd just jumped to his death. When she looked down, however, she saw him belaying off the side of the building until he reached a motorcycle that had been hidden behind a dumpster. He replaced his goggles and hood, sent her a wave, and sped out of the alleyway.

They'd met more times since then. She'd found him initially to thank him for tipping her off about the businessman. It had taken months to get any solid evidence, but he was well on his way to spending his life behind bars.

Other times they met as opponents. Neither ever managed to defeat the other and he became known to the city as her nemesis. It would have been obvious, though, to anyone observing their fights that neither of their hearts were in it.

Finally one night Hinata had woken up to the night breeze blowing through her window. A flashback to the terrible night her family had been slaughtered caused her to leap her out of bed with a knife in hand in moments. When he stepped out from behind her curtain she'd charged at him. His amazing reflexes were the only reason he managed to avoid the attack, but he'd grabbed her wrist and held his other hand up, showing her he had no weapon on him.

"Sorry, doll. Didn't mean to scare you. I just couldn't stay away anymore."

Recognizing his voice, and those mesmerizing eyes of his, she'd dropped her knife and started to take some calming breaths. Then, it registered what he'd just said. Her eyes snapped back to his and he smiled at her, slowly closing the distance between them while waiting for any sign of protest. The fear of rejection was real, and when he saw no rejection in her eyes - quite the opposite in fact - it felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. When their lips finally met, their arms were around each other in seconds, grasping and pulling in order to be as close to one another as possible.

That was the first of many passionate nights between the two of them. Their relationship wasn't conventional - their secret lives were at complete odds with one another despite the fact that he claimed he only stole from "assholes" - but there couldn't be anyone else for either of them.

As he held her close and danced, she closed her eyes and placed her head on his chest, relishing the sound of his heartbeat. It was her favorite thing, he'd learned, to listen to his heartbeat. It was her way of assuring herself that he was alive and that he hadn't left. His family hadn't been killed in front of him - that he could remember at least - but he understood. Besides, it always made him feel good to know that he was that important to her. It helped reassure him that she felt as strongly about him as he did for her.

"It's always nice to see you out of that spandex."

She blushed at the double entendre and he grinned.

"Should I have worn it underneath? I hope I won't be needing it tonight?"

She hated that she had to ask, but he knew she did.

"Nope, Kyubi won't be making an appearance tonight. I happen to have other important business that needs attending to."

"Oh?" she said, looking up at him. He loved how her eyes were so expressive, the curiosity shining through.

"Yeah, pretty important job actually."

Her brows furrowed and his mischievous grin grew wider.

"I'm romancing my girl," he said with a wink.

And so he did. They danced well into the morning, eventually moving to a more private venue. The circumstances surrounding their relationship were not simple, but their feelings for each other couldn't have been more straightforward.

* * *

 **There you have it! I'm so happy with how it turned out, I can't even believe it. I haven't even proofed it because I wanted it up as soon as I finished. I'll have to do that later. Let me know if there are any glaring errors, please. I tried to incorporate some of both Naruto and Batman into the story. Obviously Hinata is Batman and Naruto is Catwoman. Bet you didn't see that one coming! Woot. Anyway, please let me know what you think. I am really curious to see if y'all like it as much as I do.**


	4. WhiskersScars

**Hello again! I'm back for day 5 (and day 23, because they ended up going together). I read so many amazing stories for whiskers that were set in the canon universe that I didn't feel I had anything worthwhile to add. So instead, I decided to go for an AU. I wanted Naruto to feel similarly about his whiskers in this universe as I think he would feel at times in the canon universe so I'm curious to see what you guys think.**

* * *

 **Day Five: Whiskers/Day Twenty-three: Scars**

Naruto was not having a good day. First, he'd woken up to his giant orange cat, Kurama, attempting to shove him out of the bed in an attempt to get breakfast. Apparently the blond had drifted so far over to the side during the night that the damned cat actually succeeded and he fell on the freezing, hard wooden floor with a thud.

Then, once his cat was fed and he was dressed, his car wouldn't start because of the cold weather. He loved his classic orange and white VW van even if he was the only one who thought it was a classic and not a piece of junk. On days like this, however, he started to wish he'd spent part of his latest book bonus on a newer, more reliable car.

So, he'd made the trip to his favorite coffee shop on foot which the cold made seem like twenty blocks instead of three. When he'd arrived, however, there was a sign on the door saying there had been a sewage rupture due to the early freeze and the place would be closed until the city fixed it.

Cursing, Naruto debated just going back home, but he knew he wouldn't get any writing done there and Jiraiya would kill him if he didn't have his draft finished in a couple of weeks. He pulled out his phone to search for the next closest coffee shop - determined not to have to walk any further than he had to - and found a place he'd never heard of before called the Silver Leaf.

It was a short walk, but luckily far enough away that the sewage rupture hadn't affected it, and he practically threw himself inside the door upon arrival to get out of the biting cold. He'd walked up to the counter where two girls, one with long blonde hair and one with short pink hair, were arguing.

He rang the bell once to get their attention, receiving two frustrated looks before they realized he was a customer - apparently the first in a while considering the place was deserted - and plastered wide grins on their faces. Instead of appearing welcoming, their sudden attitude shifts seemed a little scary, but he was cold and he really didn't want to go back outside. He'd ordered a latte and cinnamon roll, hoping both would help him warm up from the inside out, and went to set up his laptop and wait on his order.

In a couple of minutes he heard a gasp over the quiet, mellow music and looked toward the counter in curiosity. All he could see were the blonde and pink haired women clustered at the kitchen door which was slightly cracked open. They were whispering loud enough for him to hear their consonants across the room and gesticulating wildly, but he shrugged when nothing further happened for a minute and figured they were just excitable people.

Naruto had just settled in to write when a third young woman appeared before him with his coffee and pastry. She had long indigo hair and expressive lavender eyes. He would have thought her pretty cute if not for the fact that she was just standing and staring at him. After a minute of looking between her strange expression and his food in her hands he spoke up.

"Uh, is that mine?"

It was a stupid question, considering he was the only one here, but he didn't know what else to say.

"Oh!" she said, looking even more flustered. How that was possible he didn't know. "Um, s-sorry. I just - uh - hereyougoIhopeyoulikeit!" she blurted out and practically ran back to the counter where he heard the kitchen door close.

Well. That was weird. But his coffee smelled good and the cinnamon roll was the best he'd ever tasted so he just shook it off and got to work.

Thirty minutes later he was typing angrily before hammering on his backspace key in order to erase the crap that had just appeared on the page in front of him. He'd tried to write this particular conversation three times now and it was just not working. Suddenly he noticed that same girl with the long hair standing beside him, fresh latte in hand.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows until he glanced at his cup and realized it was empty. He nodded at her to set the new cup down, still running through the scene in his head trying to make sense of how he wanted it to go.

The young woman set down his new cup and picked up the empty one, but didn't leave immediately. Frustrated with his work, he sat there typing out a line and erasing it a few times over before he looked back up and saw her still standing there, staring at his face.

He frowned.

"Do I have icing on my face or something?" he said gruffly, wiping at his mouth to see if any of the gooey substance had stuck while he was eating his cinnamon roll.

Indigo tresses moved as she shook her head, and she opened her mouth to say something before closing it again. She was still staring at his face and his frown grew deeper as he figured out what she was staring at: his whiskers.

Naruto hated his whiskers. He'd been raised in an orphanage when he was younger. It was in a rough part of town and the school they were bused to wasn't much better, but he'd had an amazing caretaker named Iruka who'd really watched out for him and made his life bearable.

When he was in first grade, however, they'd had to hire a new driver for the van that took them to and from school. On the driver's first day, he hadn't counted how many kids were in the van before heading back to the orphanage. He hadn't realized that a little Naruto was stuck in the bathroom trying to fasten pants that the button had just fallen off of.

By the time he got out of the bathroom, most of the lights were out in the school and he couldn't see anybody. Scared, he had gone to the front of the school where the vans always picked kids up for the various daycares and after school centers. When he saw no one left, he'd started shaking. They'd abandoned him. He'd been abandoned again.

The tiny blond boy had cried for a while before deciding that if Iruka was going to abandon him then he would have to tell him why to his face. He started to walk toward the orphanage, going the route he usually watched outside the van window. He wasn't sure if he was taking all the right turns, but he was sure he'd get there eventually. There was no way they could get rid of him that easily.

Unfortunately, he'd run into some older kids, really bad ones who'd seen his puffy eyes and the state of his clothes and pegged him as an easy target.

It had started out with the usual - jeers and taunts that made his heart hurt. After that, however, one of the kids had taken it a step further and pushed him to the ground. The fear in Naruto's eyes at the sudden physical turn of events had apparently made the kid feel pretty good about himself and he started to hit Naruto in between calling him unwanted and a stray. Initially a little freaked out, the violent kid's friends eventually started cheering him on.

That's when things got really bad. The older kid had pulled out a knife and held it to Naruto's cheek. Naruto had begun to hyperventilate, thinking he was going to die. He tried to run, but two of the boys blocked his path and shoved him back down. The one with the knife had dragged the knife across the six year old's cheek. Then he did it two more times. He mirrored his actions on the other cheek, telling Naruto he was going to have whiskers just like all the other strays.

The little boy was in pain, so much pain. His salty tears stung his wounds even further and when he tried to touch his face it hurt so bad he passed out.

Apparently the boys had left when they realized their fun was over because he woke up some time later in a hospital bed with Iruka crying in a chair next to him. He'd tried to say something, but moving his mouth even a little had hurt terribly. He'd put his hand up to his face which no longer felt wet with tears or blood, instead it felt kind of stiff.

Iruka had seen the motion and jumped out of his chair, tears running down his face when he told Naruto how scared he had been when he hadn't seen him get off the bus. How he'd driven to the school to look for him and when he hadn't found him there, had driven around looking as hard as he could. Iruka had called the police when he didn't see him and they called him back within minutes about a boy matching Naruto's description who had been admitted to the ER. Iruka had gone straightaway and sat there while they stitched up his face.

Needless to say, it was a dark day for Naruto. It was a very traumatic experience and every time he looked in a mirror he was reminded of it. When he got his first book deal, he'd convinced Jiraiya to have them photoshop the whiskers off his cheeks. He had some concealer he wore when he did readings and signings, but he hadn't worn any today because he'd just been planning to go to his usual coffee shop. Apparently fate had had other cruel plans and now here he was with someone just staring at those damnable scars on his face.

If he'd been in a better mood he'd probably have noticed the slight blush on the woman's face, but his day had been shit so far and all he noticed were wide lavender eyes fixated rather pointedly on the scars on his face that looked like whiskers.

"What?" he said rather gruffly. "What do you want?"

The woman looked taken aback again, eyes getting impossibly wider, but he wasn't having it this time.

"Don't act all innocent. You've been staring for who knows how long. Just ask what you want to ask or leave."

"I - um…" she seemed to be at a loss for words. She looked afflicted, like she was debating what to say or whether to say anything at all.

Finally, after an uncomfortable silence during which her face began to turn red, she blurted out, "I really like cats."

Um, what? Naruto was caught off guard. He had no idea what that even meant, let alone how he was supposed to respond. She looked absolutely horrified and bolted away again, not stopping until she was in the kitchen.

That was by far the strangest thing that had happened to him in a while. Was she upset? She'd looked a little upset before she'd left, but he really had no idea how to process the situation or how he was supposed to react so he figured he would just finish his fresh latte and head back home. He definitely wasn't going to get anything more done after that interaction.

Naruto was re-reading what he'd written, trying to get his mind back to where it had been earlier, but he was interrupted by the two temperamental women who had taken his order storming up to his table.

"What the fuck did you say to Hinata you jerk?!" the blonde one yelled - or shrieked, rather.

Naruto just looked confused. He didn't even know who Hinata was.

"Don't play dumb with us," the pink one interjected, pointing her finger rather threateningly at him. The employees here were obviously crazy. "She was all excited to meet her favorite author and when she comes back from bringing you your free latte she breaks down in tears!"

"Not the happy kind!" the blonde said, needing to make that clear.

Favorite author? Oh. Naruto started to connect the dots.

"Was Hinata the girl with the long dark hair?"

"Yes! Can't you read? It says on our nametags."

Somehow he had missed the silver leaf-shaped name tags. Apparently the women who were currently berating him were named Ino and Sakura.

"Anyway, you made Hinata cry. And no one is mean to Hinata and gets away with it. I have half a mind to call our owner and have him ban you for life!"

As if he'd want to come here after this spectacle. But they kept talking about this Hinata crying. She was crying?

Naruto sighed. He hated it when girls cried. Call him old fashioned but if he saw a girl in tears he would do just about anything to make them stop. Knowing that that strange girl was crying because of him - even if he didn't know why - made his stomach twist with guilt.

"Look, do you think you can get her back out here? I think there's been a misunderstanding."

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms. Ino's icy blue eyes were narrowed as she said, "What misunderstanding? Since you got here all she's been doing is freaking out about how her favorite author is here and how excited she is to meet you and that she can't believe you have whiskers because she thinks they're adorable and cats are her favorite animal so it's like you're all of her favorite things. Or whatever.

"So you must have said something mean to her to take her from being that excited to being in tears and I don't care if you are some bigshot writer but no one messes with Hinata and gets away with it."

Hinata had said all that? It was still a little weird, but he realized he had misinterpreted her stare and started to feel even worse about his reaction. He hadn't meant to take his bad day out on someone, and certainly not someone who actually liked what he created. Shit.

"Like I said, there's been a misunderstanding. All she did was stare at my face and then tell me she liked cats. If you can get her out here, I can make it better."

Two sets of eyes widened upon hearing his side of the story and they looked sideways at one another, trying to determine where to go from there.

"Fine. But just know you have to make her happy again. We don't care what it takes," Sakura said before they both turned and headed towards the back.

Naruto debated making a run for it, but his gut screamed at him to stay and make the strange girl feel better. He knew if he left things like this he'd have terrible heartburn for a week.

He heard some heated whispering again and knew they were trying to convince Hinata to come out. He kind of felt for her. He be embarrassed if he'd acted like that, too. Finally the shorter woman came out of the kitchen door, obviously being shoved by two sets of arms. She looked over at his table and he'd done his best to give her a disarming smile and a wave. When her face flared red again he wasn't sure if it had worked or not, but she made her way over slowly - painfully slowly - and was eventually standing in front of him again.

"You want to have a seat, Hinata?" he gestured to the chair across from him. At the sound of her name coming from his mouth she looked ready to dart to the kitchen again, but the blonde and pinkette were now guarding the door and shaking their heads.

Reluctantly, she had a seat and started playing with her hair in what he figured was a nervous habit. Now that he looked, however, he found her hair to be very unique and rather pretty. Should he tell her that? Girls like it when you complimented them, right?

"I like your hair," he said.

He sighed, starting to regret that he hadn't run when he'd had the chance.

"Look. I'm sorry. I think we got off on the wrong foot and I was having a bad day and I took it out on you and that wasn't right and I'm sorry. Really, I am."

"It's okay," she said meekly, not meeting his eyes. He could tell she was still not okay.

"No, no it's really not. I thought you were staring at my scars and I just - they bring back really bad memories and I don't like them and I thought you thought I was a freak or something and I just got upset. But it wasn't cool so I'm going to make it up to you." He didn't know why he told her about how the scars made him feel - maybe he was trying to excuse his behavior - but he somehow didn't think she'd judge him for it.

"Oh! No, um, I didn't think you were a freak. It's just your jacket photo doesn't have them so I was surprised and I think they're really cute and I just didn't know what to say and then you seemed so angry and…" she trailed off as she realized she was rambling.

Cute? That was a first. His whiskers always reminded him of a time when he felt unloved and unwanted. He'd definitely never thought of them as anything other than a painful memento of his past.

"Thanks? You're certainly different."

She flinched and he realized she probably took it the wrong way. For all his skill with words on the page he was terrible at talking to the opposite sex.

"Not bad different. Just different. Like, intriguing kind of different."

She perked up again and he sighed in relief. This was really hard. He wished he had some kind of ace he could use to - oh, right.

"So, I hear you like my books?"

Hinata bit her lip, but she smiled at the mention of his work and it completely transformed her face. She was definitely pretty.

"Yes. I think they're wonderful. I had to study business in college, but literature was always my passion. I've attended a book club with some people from my university for years now and we read your first book when it came out. I loved the plot, the characters, the subtle themes you incorporated and how you use both metaphorical and literal imagery to paint a picture. I've purchased all of your other books, as well."

She seemed like a completely different person when talking like this.

"Well, that's always nice to hear, Hinata. Thank you."

"No, thank you! Your writing inspired me. The way the characters always face their obstacles head on, despite whatever has happened to them, made me want to do the same. Without you I would be miserable working under my father and probably living with him, as well. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do yet, but I know whatever I decide will be for myself and it makes me happy."

Wow. Hearing that she liked his stories was one thing, but the fact that they had helped her change her life was another entirely. He hardly knew how to respond. So he started to ask for specifics about what she had read that inspired her and they began discussing his books in depth. He was shocked at how well she knew his writing. She brought up little details he'd added that he didn't think anyone would notice and her interpretations of certain motifs were spot on. She just _got_ him.

A bell jingled and both of them jolted in their seats as another person finally came to the door. Naruto realized they had been there for a while and he was starting to get hungry again. He looked at the woman across from him, her lavender eyes suddenly seeming very appealing instead of intrusive. Perhaps he could buy her lunch and they could talk a little more.

"I'm actually getting kind of hungry. Would you like to get some lunch with me?"

A blush bloomed on her cheeks and Naruto felt a surge of pride that his offer caused her to react that way.

"R-really?"

"Yeah! I really like people like you," he said honestly, smiling when her blush intensified. "And besides, I still need to make it up to you for making you cry. So actually, I'm going to insist you come to lunch with me."

Hinata licked her lips and glanced to the counter where her friends were both flashing a thumbs up and a huge smile.

She nodded and told him to wait while she grabbed her things. He packed up his computer and stood next to the door, holding it open for her when she was ready and following her out. As he noticed a book in her purse by his favorite author he smiled to himself. He had a really good feeling about this.

* * *

 **There you have it! Did you like what I did with the backstory? How did you feel about their interaction? I am a little more used to writing in Hinata's point of view so I forced myself to do something a little different this time. Do you like how it turned out? I like this little world, actually, and have a few ideas for it so maybe it'll show up again sometime.**


	5. Dancing

**Well guys, here's another one. I've gone one I should be posting tomorrow that's not nearly as dramatic. I'm not entirely sure how this happened, but it did and I kind of like it. So I hope you do to.**

 **Day Seven: Dancing**

He was out again.

Hinata frowned as she paced back and forth in Naruto's apartment. This had been happening with increasing frequency lately. She didn't want to be suspicious - Naruto was the most loyal person she'd ever met, but he'd been rather distant for the past month and the glares she got in the streets from various females were daily reminders that her fiance was one of the most well known (read: sought after) shinobi in the elemental nations.

Normally, she wouldn't worry. Normally, she wouldn't succumb to the insecurities that had plagued her her whole life, but things hadn't been quite normal lately.

It had all started a few weeks ago. She'd had a lunch date with Naruto before going to the Yamanaka flower shop to look at the prototype arrangements Ino had made for her. The blonde wasn't at the flower shop much any more, taking over many of her father's duties in the clan and at T&I, but the Uzumaki-Hyuga wedding was obviously too special for her to leave to anyone else.

The centerpieces had been stunning. as expected, and after oohing and aahing for a few minutes as well as a little bit of catching up, the visit was complete. Ino headed back to T&I headquarters and Hinata decided to stop by the Hokage tower where Naruto said he'd be to let him know that Ino was taking great care of them.

When she'd arrived, however, Naruto hadn't been there. Hinata had asked Kakashi if Naruto had stopped by and he had replied with the truth: the Uzumaki had come by to say hello and said he had something to do for a couple of hours.

Hinata's furrowed brow suddenly made Kakashi wonder if Naruto asking him to cover him had meant cover for him with his fiance instead of do the paperwork that had been set aside for his training. He shrugged after a minute, however, deciding it really wasn't any of his business and Naruto should have been more specific.

It wasn't a big deal. She figured something had probably come up and that her love went to take care of it. When she mentioned it to him later, he just waved it away and told her it was nothing to worry about so she forgot about it.

A few days later, she'd stopped by his apartment in the evening to see if he was feeling alright. He'd gone home earlier when she'd suggested a walk, saying he was feeling a little under the weather and needed to get some rest. So Hinata had gone by to supply him with some ramen and an herbal tea (her own special blend) to help him feel better, but had found his apartment empty.

He'd waved off her concern the next day and again, she let it go.

For a week everything seemed back to normal, until she'd been walking home from the market, taking a different route in order to look at one of the newer parts of town. She heard the familiar laugh of her beloved and turned to say hello, only to see Naruto hugging a buxom redhead in one of the doorways. The building looked like a residence instead of a business, and Hinata felt an unusual twinge in her heart. She hid and watched as her fiancé bid the woman goodbye and looked around, as if to check if anyone had seen him, and began walking in the direction of his apartment.

Hinata had meant to say something then. But then she thought about it and didn't know what she was supposed to say. After all, all that had happened is that Naruto had hugged a woman she didn't know and had not been where she thought he said he was going to be a couple of times. She didn't want to unjustly accuse him of anything. And what if he thought she was acting jealous and ridiculous and decided he didn't want to marry someone like that? No, no she did not want that.

And so she had told herself to let it go. She'd done pretty well for a couple of days until it started happening again. It's not like she was intending to check up on him, but she always brought him lunches or snacks and stopped by to let him know how the wedding plans were coming.

Now, however, when she showed up where he said he was going to be, he wasn't there. And he would leave her in the evenings earlier than usual to go back to his apartment - or so he said. She really didn't know anymore and when she casually mentioned these instances to Naruto he would chuckle and wave it off. But it was getting harder for her to wave it off as she replayed the image of the beautiful young redhead in the arms of her soon to be husband.

Tonight had been the last straw. Naruto had told her that after dinner he was going to train with Sasuke and Sakura, but when Hinata had been doing some shopping she had run across the couple - dressed for a date rather than training. She had greeted them and decided regardless of their apparel to ask if they were meeting Naruto for training.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

"He told me earlier that you two were going to be training with him this evening," she responded, looking toward a suddenly very nervous looking Sakura.

"Oh yeah!" the pinkette answered in a not very convincing high pitched voice. "We, uh, we were going to train but I got us a table at that new restaurant and decided to reschedule."

"No we didn't," Sasuke said, looking at his girlfriend who widened her eyes at him as if to tell him to play along. Instead he just shut his mouth and pursed his lips, obviously annoyed with the situation.

"Yeah, so we should get going," Sakura said with an awkward laugh, "But don't worry, Hinata, you know him. He'll be training hard by himself for hours so you should just go home and get some rest. I'm sure planning a huge wedding is exhausting!"

People might think Hinata was naive, but she was definitely not stupid. She had brushed off some of the other times in the previous weeks because she figured she might have misinterpreted what he said, but this was it. He had lied and she knew there was something behind it because if there wasn't then Sakura wouldn't have tried to cover for him. Although the Hyuga was a little hurt that the pinkette would lie to her, she knew genin teams had that kind of bond. She would probably do the same for Kiba or Shino.

So Hinata made her way to Naruto's apartment. She was a woman now, not some infatuated girl, and she had a right to voice her feelings to the man she was about to devote her life to. She honestly didn't think it would turn out to be cheating, but she had to get it off her chest so she could get past it. She'd stormed up to his apartment, half hoping to find him there, but her hopes were quickly dashed. Instead she decided to wait there until he got back.

* * *

A couple hours later Naruto opened his front door, a little surprised to find it unlocked. When he saw Hinata's sandals next to the doorway, he smiled and looked around the apartment for her.

What he saw, however, wasn't his usual adoring fiance. She was sitting on his couch, biting her lip and bunching up her skirt with her hand - a nervous habit that had replaced pressing her index fingers together.

"Hey there, sweetie. What's up?"

Now that he was there, Hinata was having a hard time keeping it together. She was torn between running to greet the man she loved and confronting him about his lie. When she thought about everything that had been going on the last few weeks, however, she knew what she had to do.

"I saw Sakura and Sasuke earlier," she said, hoping the implication would be enough to get him to explain.

Blue eyes widened and his hand twitched as it almost reflexively went to scratch the back of his head - something he did when he got nervous. Her eyes narrowed.

"Uh, yeah, they kind of bailed tonight. But it's alright, they have to have couple time sometimes, you know?"

That was a lie. She knew they didn't have plans.

"Did you go somewhere else instead?"

"Nope, I went to train."

Hinata studied him. He was definitely still nervous. And he wasn't sweaty or dirty at all. Naruto was always filthy after training whether he was soaked through with sweat or also covered in dirt. He had an extremely demanding training regimen and he had obviously not been doing that this evening.

"I, um, I d-don't believe you," she said quietly while looking away. It killed her to say it and she had tears in her eyes from having to utter that statement, but it was true.

"Nata, what's going on?" Naruto said, concerned as he saw her start to shake a little. He was afraid things had gone too far.

"I'm s-sorry, but I f-feel like you've been lying. And it hurts," she said, knowing she was wearing her emotions on her sleeve. She had intended to confront him about it with her chin held high, but she her almost non-existent stutter had kicked in due to her anxiety and she figured she'd just have to deal with it like she was.

Naruto crossed the room, sweeping her into a hug. He wasn't sure what to say, but started to feel relieved when he felt her relaxing a little into him. As she turned her face into his chest, however, she stiffened.

Perfume. She definitely smelled perfume.

"Naruto, w-what's going on? Why do you smell like-like p-perfume?"

When his heartbeat began to accelerate, she felt like her worst fears were realized.

"Hinata, it's not what it seems like," he said.

Oh god, that's what they always said!

"Not what it seems? Why do you smell like perfume? Why are you never where you say you're going to be? You've been distant lately and I thought I was just being crazy, but you smell like perfume! Oh my god. Oh my god it's really true, isn't it? I thought that couldn't possibly be what was happening, but it's true."

She started sobbing and made a break for the door. She should have known the dream wouldn't last. She didn't want him to feel obligated to be with her. She loved him with all her heart and if being with someone else would make him happier then he was free to do that, but she had to get out of there right now. She couldn't handle breaking down in front of him.

Before she could wrench the front door open, however, a large tanned hand pressed against it. She twisted the handle and pulled, but her shoulders were shaking now and when she couldn't force it open she dropped to the floor in tears.

He picked her up and placed her in his lap, but she could smell that damned perfume again and started to try to push him away. Realization hit him, and he unzipped his jacket and tossed it across the room before wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly.

"Nata, Nata calm down. I'm not cheating on you. I would never cheat on you."

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him more than anything but at this point she was strained from weeks of confusion and the awful revelation of a woman's perfume on his clothes.

"B-but what about you disappearing lately? And you lied to me, Naruto, I know you weren't planning on meeting your team. They tried to cover for you - well, Sakura did - but it was obvious it wasn't true. And then your jacket - " she cut herself off, not able to voice it aloud anymore.

"I know, I know I'm sorry. I just- well I didn't want to tell you…"

She was crying so hard she wasn't sure if it was just her heart that hurt anymore.

"Please calm down, I wasn't cheating. I swear. I was trying to surprise you."

He hugged her close and rubbed her back until the tears had subsided into shaky breathing.

"W-what do you mean surprise me?"

Naruto sighed, knowing he'd been caught and would have to tell her now.

"I've been taking lessons."

She looked up at him, eyes red from crying, and asked, "Lessons? For what?"

"Dancing," he said, his ears turning slightly red with embarrassment. "You're the Hyuga heiress so I know you've been taught all kinds of dances. And I didn't want to embarrass you in front of everyone at the wedding since so many important people are coming so Ayame introduced me to her friend who is trying to start up a dance studio. She even agreed to do it for free since she figures telling people she taught me is advertising enough to get a business up and running.

"But, uh, I'm a little clumsy and it's taking a little longer than expected. That's where I've been disappearing to. I didn't mean to lie, I just wanted to give you a nice surprise at the wedding."

"Naruto, you could have told me. I would have been happy to help. I didn't realize it had been bothering you. I could have given you lessons."

"I know," he said, "but I kind of wanted to surprise you. I figured I could spin you out on the dance floor and you wouldn't know what hit you! But, I guess things kind of got out of hand."

Oh god. She felt horrible. Here she was accusing him of cheating on her and he was just trying to give her a sweet surprise at their wedding. She was the _worst_.

When Hinata broke down into tears again Naruto freaked out.

"What's wrong? I told you I wasn't cheating, I swear!"

"I-I know, it's just you were trying so hard to do something so s-sweet and I just ac-cused you of being unfaithful. I don't deserve you!"

He had to admit it had hurt when she had thought he was cheating. Then again, he can see where she could have gotten the idea. He kissed the top of her head and held her as she continued to cry. Even if he'd been a little hurt, she was crying enough for the both of them.

"It's okay. It was wrong to lie to you anyway. And if I'd been in your shoes I probably would have been suspicious as well. I mean, there was that one time I punched that guy for holding your hand when he was just giving you change. So, uh, I get it."

He felt pretty good about himself when she giggled at the memory. Laughing was much better than crying.

"Hey, I bet I know how to cheer you up. How about you let me show you what I've learned and you can give me some pointers? I'm sure you're a way better teacher anyway."

"But Naruto we don't have any music."

"Who needs music when you've got the best girl in the world in your arms. We'll just do whatever feels right."

Her lip quivered at his heartfelt words, but before she could start crying out of guilt again he pulled her to her feet and placed her hand on his shoulder. He then took her other hand in his own and placed his free one around her waist. He stepped to the side, while she followed, and continued to move and twirl her around the floor of his apartment.

She tried to apologize again, but he just kissed her quiet and she gave in, laying her head on his chest as both arms came up to circle his neck and he pulled her closer while they swayed. No more words were spoken that evening.


	6. Karaoke

**Here you go! Obviously I'm not really sticking to a schedule but if something strikes me I'll write it. I have an idea for a couple of the prompts this week so you'll probably see some more come through. I actually got to include some Team 7 in here so that made me happy :-)**

* * *

 **Day Eight: Karaoke**

Naruto looked across the room as he filled another glass with beer, stopping the liquid coming out of the tap at just the right time without having to check. It was pretty much ingrained in him at this point.

"You're staring again," Sasuke said while crossing behind him to grab a bottle of liquor.

"Am not," Naruto replied, refusing to admit it to his best friend and co-worker.

"Are too. Stop it. It's fucking creepy," Sasuke said, sliding the drink across the counter while Naruto did the same.

"I am not creepy!"

At that moment a young woman with short pink hair joined them behind the bar, shoving her purse underneath one of the cabinets and raising an eyebrow at Naruto's outburst.

"Sasuke called me creepy," the blond whined, hoping the girl would chastise her boyfriend for being mean to him. Unfortunately, he would have no such luck.

"Were you staring at Hinata again?" she asked, to which her boyfriend snorted and gave his girlfriend a nod.

The Uzumaki hung his head dejectedly. "I'm never going to win now that you guys are sleeping together."

"Let's face it, you never really won before either," Sasuke said as Sakura punched Naruto in the arm for bringing up their sex life in front of customers.

"Asshole," Naruto said, while making a face at his black haired best friend. Why he was his best friend he wasn't sure at the moment.

"You're just jealous," Sasuke said with a smirk, while mixing another cocktail.

"As if! Why would I want to date someone who hits me all the time?" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing his sore arm where the pinkette had punched him. All three had agreed to never mention his long past crush on Sakura, since people always seemed to turn it into something weird. One person even asked if they'd had a threesome before. After the screaming and retching that had followed that question, they'd all agreed it was best to pretend his crush never existed in the first place.

"Not of me and Sakura. Jealous that we have something you don't."

"That jerk doesn't deserve her," the blond said, looking back across the bar at a tall brunette with his arm slung around Hinata's shoulders.

"I'm gonna tell her tonight," he added, earning a disapproving look from both his friends.

He had first seen Hinata a few months before. She'd come in on karaoke night with two guys, a brunette and a redhead, and a tall blonde woman. He'd find out later that her three companions were siblings named Kankuro, Gaara, and Temari.

He was initially struck by her eyes, vaguely remembering eyes like that on a guy named Neji that they had gone to school with. Her eyes were different from Neji's, though. They were warmer and had a lavender tint

to them. They were mesmerizing and he had a hard time looking away - which was pointed out to him multiple times that night by both Sasuke and Sakura.

When he'd expressed interest in meeting her, Sakura had rolled her eyes. "You've met her before dumbass. That's Hinata Hyuga. She went to grade school with us until seventh grade when the Hyuga Corps opened up a branch in Suna and she had to move with her dad and sister."

"Huh? Really?" he'd said, searching his memory for anyone resembling the curvy woman with long indigo hair. She was a total knockout.

"Yes really. She had homeroom with us every year until she left, as well as some of our other classes," Sakura said. She conveniently left out the part where the girl had been obviously infatuated with the blond - it might give him a big head and she kind of wanted to punish him for forgetting about her and her adorable affections.

When Naruto's face continued to scrunch up in thought, she sighed. "Seriously? She even offered to let you cheat off her test one time. You almost got caught and she could have been in big trouble."

That actually jogged his memory. But he had a hard time believing that girl who always wore those giant sweaters over her uniform with the awkwardly short haircut and red face was the same as the stunning woman in front of him. She hadn't been ugly or anything, just a little weird. When she flashed her kind smile at one of her companions, though, he realized it was definitely her. He remembered that same smile directed towards him as he confessed to her how worried he was that he wasn't going to pass the end of the year exams in seventh grade and that he'd get left behind. She'd called him a proud failure and told him that she knew he'd make it because he worked hard and never gave up.

He'd started to take a liking to her then, but she wasn't there when the final grades were posted and he hadn't seen her since. Now he knew why.

The group of four always showed up a couple times a week, almost always on karaoke night. He noticed them trying to convince her to go on stage - the blonde and brunette had both sung before - but she never agreed until one week when she'd had a couple drinks more than usual. She'd gotten onstage, blushing profusely as he now remembered she used to do when they were young, and sang to the crowd. Her voice was sweet and calming, and she sang a song that had couples grabbing one another's hands.

Naruto wouldn't admit it outloud, but Sasuke and Sakura both accused him of becoming smitten that night.

She never came up to the bar, Kankuro or Gaara were usually the ones who'd order the drinks, but the Uzumaki kept trying to figure out a good excuse to go and talk to her. Unfortunately, she was only there on karaoke nights or the weekends which were too busy for him to ever get away from behind the bar.

After a few weeks had passed, he saw something that made him feel like his opportunity had passed before he'd even had a chance to try. He was glancing (just a glance, not staring as Sasuke continued to accuse him of) over at the indigo haired young woman and watched horrified as Kankuro leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, causing said cheek to flame red. The brunette just laughed and slung his arm over her shoulder while the quartet continued their conversation.

Naruto felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

To say he was disappointed would be putting it rather mildly, but there really wasn't anything he could do. He had more honor than to try to steal her from someone, especially if he made her happy, so he just settled for watching her from afar.

His opinion changed the very next week when he saw Kankuro come in on a day different than his usual, with a tall blonde hanging on his arm. Then the next week with a petite redhead. And the next week with a lean brunette. The brunette seemed to stick as Naruto saw them together a few more times in the next couple of weeks.

Now, as a bartender, Naruto was privy to more than a few affairs or cheating significant others. Normally, he didn't think it was any of his business. The longer this went on, however, the more he wanted to tell her, to let her know what was happening because it was wrong and he didn't want her to suffer. When he told Sakura and Sasuke what he intended to do, however, they disapproved.

"What if you're getting it wrong?" Sasuke said. "You know it could hurt her more if you're the one to let her know," Sakura added.

They had a point. And he didn't want to be the one who caused her pain. He was trying to keep her from feeling it. But when he had seen them come in tonight, Kankuro's arm around her shoulder as usual, he couldn't get the image of him making out with his other girl the night before out of his head.

"You're welcome to go for it if you really want," Sasuke said, "but when it goes horribly wrong I will say I told you so."

"Wow, so supportive," Naruto said as he rolled his eyes.

He kept trying to figure out a way to talk to her alone, but yet again, the night was crazy and time passed until he looked up from behind the bar and she was no longer there. As they wiped everything down and counted out their tips that night, his friends told him to be patient. They said no one got away with that kind of thing forever and that he would get a chance to talk to her at some point.

Sure enough, when he came in to cover part of Sai's afternoon shift a few days later, he found Hinata sitting at the bar with her head down, a few empty glasses already next to her. He nodded to his coworker, who transferred her tab to the blond before grabbing his sketchbook and heading out the door.

As the door closed he was basically left alone with the girl he'd been observing - not staring at - for months. It was well past lunch rush, but still a couple hours before people started to get off work so the only other person there was the guy in the kitchen.

Now that he was finally alone with her, he had no idea what to say. He looked at the empty glasses, surprised at the number when he knew she usually only had a couple drinks. Should he say hello? Would it freak her out if he knew her name? Maybe she would be happy he remembered her? Or would that be creepy?

Before he could decide on the best method of greeting he heard her say "Um, can I have another?"

"Sure!" he responded, a little too loudly since the bar was basically deserted and he was excited she had talked first.

Startled by the loud voice of someone who was definitely not the guy who had been serving her, Hinata looked up, eyes widening when they fell upon the exuberant blond.

"Actually, you mind telling me what you were having? I don't want to guess and get you the wrong thing," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Way to make an impression, Naruto.

"O-oh, um it really doesn't matter. Anything will do, really."

The blond frowned, knowing it wasn't a good sign when they didn't care what they were drinking so long as it contained alcohol, but fixed a cocktail he had seen her drink more than a few times and handed it to her. She hardly even glanced at it before picking up and taking a big gulp, but once the familiar taste hit her tongue she took the drink from her mouth and looked at it, then at the blond bartender.

"This is my favorite," she said.

"Yeah, I know," he said before realizing what had just come out of his mouth. "I mean I didn't know know that it was your favorite or anything, cause that would be weird, but it's pretty popular and I've made it a few times for those guys you always come here with and I thought I'd seen you drink it before so I figured it would be a safe bet."

She was staring at him with her mouth slightly open after his outburst and he laughed nervously, ready for her to splash the rest of her drink on him before leaving and never coming back.

"Uh, can we just forget that?"

Lavender eyes glanced down at the drink in her hand, then back up at him, but she hadn't said anything yet.

"I mean I realize you won't actually forget it. Unless I get you drunk enough.. never mind terrible joke. I just kinda hoped you could give me a break and pretend like I haven't said all these really embarrassing things."

"What things?" she asked after a minute of silence. He started to respond but quickly shut his mouth realizing she was playing along. Whew.

She took another sip and set her glass down, shoulders seeming heavier than usual.

"So is something the matter?"

She looked up at him and tilted her head as if unsure what his motives were for asking.

"You don't have to tell me or anything. I don't want to pry. It's just you've already had twice as much to drink as you usually do and it's only like three in the afternoon so…"

"You… you know how many drinks I usually have?" she asked and he was sure he was screwed.

"I'm a bartender. We tend to have a knack for guessing that kind of thing," he said, trying to cover while knowing it was definitely not convincing enough.

"You can totally tell me what's wrong though. I'm a really good listener and I see a lot of shit so you don't have to worry about me judging you or anything."

She sighed, taking another sip of her drink before setting it down on the bar top.

"Have you ever been burned by someone you trusted?" she asked.

His eyes felt like they were about to pop out of his head. She'd found out! What should he say? Should he tell her she deserves better? Or would that be no help?

"Yeah, I think that's happened to us all at some point. Did you care about this person?"

He slid her a fresh glass as she finished hers off. She gave him a small smile that made his stomach flip flop before shrugging in response to his question. He could tell she was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol as she was starting to sway a little.

"It's just hard sometimes, you know?" she said as her words ran together a little bit. "Sometimes you try so hard for something and then it just gets stolen out from under you. It doesn't even seem worth trying anymore after something like that."

"Aw, that's no way for a pretty girl like you to feel," Naruto said, pleased with the blush that formed across her cheeks. Even if it was partly the alcohol's doing, he was damn sure going to take some of the credit for it. "You know what my motto is?" he asked.

"Never give up," she said before he could get the phrase out of his mouth. Instead he sat there gaping like a fish.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to interrupt. You just remind me of a boy I used to know. That was what his motto was. Never give up, never go back on his word." She smiled softly as if enjoying her memory.

"I, uh, I remind you of him?" he asked, unsure if he should reveal that it actually was him. He was kind of curious to see what else she'd say.

"Yeah, it's your eyes. You have pretty eyes. And a nice smile. His smile was my favorite. It was like the sun."

Alright. She was definitely a little drunk now. Was it terrible that that made him feel a little more confident?

"The sun, huh? That's a pretty epic comparison," he said.

"What can I say? I had a huge crush on him. But he didn't even know I existed. He liked this other girl who was pretty and smart."

"Hey now, I'm sure he knew you existed!"

"He did say he liked people like me once. But he also said I was dark and weird. So I wasn't really sure how to take it."

Fuck. He wasn't the smoothest guy in the world but apparently he could run circles around his younger self. Dark and weird? What the hell was wrong with him?

"You're not dark or weird. You're stunning! Seriously, the first time I saw you in here I was stunned. Literally. I almost over poured a drink and Sasuke smacked me on the back of the head."

"Sasuke?" she said, sure that she knew that name from somewhere.

"Yeah he works with me. We've been best friends since we were kids so when I came to the University he helped me get a job here."

"Wait, Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yeah, that's the bastard," he said.

Her eyes widened at the familiar nickname. This couldn't be what she thought, right?

"You, are you Naruto?"

"Naruto Uzumaki at your service!" He said with a bright smile. "You're Hinata Hyuga, right?"

Her eyes became huge and her whole face turned red. It really brought back memories. Thanks to those memories he knew to run around to the other side of the counter as she looked dangerously close to fainting.

"Oh my god," she said breathily. "You're Naruto Uzumaki."

He nodded, helping steady her in her seat while trying not to freak out at being so close to her.

"No wonder you looked so much like him!" she said, thinking she must have been stupid not to realize it sooner.

She put her head in her hands. "Oh I must have sounded so lame," she lamented.

"No! You didn't sound lame! It was cute!"

Naruto tried to make her feel better.

"I love that you thought I was like sunshine or whatever!"

She just tried to hide further in her hands until she was struck by the notion that he had known exactly who she was.

"Y-you knew who I was and you just let me go on like that? That's- that's so mean!"

Her drunken guilt trip was way too adorable. And effective. He was starting to feel bad.

"I didn't mean it like that! I just didn't want to weird you out if you didn't remember me. I'd already said all that weird shit when I first got here. I figured if I mentioned that we'd gone to grade school together and you didn't remember that it would've freaked you out."

She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, debating whether she should let him off the hook. Naruto stared at her full lips and made the decision for her.

"Tell you what, I have the day off tomorrow. Why don't you let me take you out? We'll do whatever you want, my treat."

Her eyes got wide and pink infused her cheeks once again.

"Naruto wants to take me on a date?" she whispered amazedly, as if this wasn't real life.

"You bet I do!" he exclaimed, feeling empowered by how much the idea seemed to affect her. "And you don't have to worry because I would never cheat on you," he added, wanting to make sure she knew she could trust him unlike her most recent boyfriend.

His words seemed to have the opposite effect, however, as her brows suddenly furrowed and she looked at him warily.

"That's kind of a suspicious thing to say."

"Wha? No! I just thought you should know I'm not that kind of guy!" Naruto defended.

"But why would you say it out of the blue like that? I wasn't just going to assume you were, but now you put it in my head. Why would you bring something like that up? It makes it seem like I'm going to hear from a bunch of jilted girls."

"No! Nothing like that. I just wanted to reassure you because you're here drinking after finding out your boyfriend cheated on you."

The silence that followed was a stark reminder to Naruto that she hadn't actually specified the reason she was upset.

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, uh, you know that guy with brown hair who's always got his arm around you. I've seen him in here with some other girls and kinda thought that's what you were talking about…"

Great. He was back to the creepy guy. She definitely wasn't going to go anywhere alone with him now.

As he berated himself for the slip up, Hinata spoke up.

"You thought Kankuro was my boyfriend?"

"Uh, yeah? I figured that's what you meant by being burned by someone you trusted."

"It, um, it seems like you've been watching me a lot."

And there it was. He was definitely the creepy guy now. He hung his head dejectedly.

"You should've said something sooner," she finished, causing Naruto to whip his head up and look at her with wide blue eyes.

She nodded and flashed a coy smile, apparently having absorbed some of the confidence he had lost.

"If you had said something you would've known Kankuro wasn't my boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"He's practically my older brother. When my family moved to Suna we spent quite a bit of time with the Sabaku family since we were partnering with them in the startup of the branch. We all ended up becoming quite close. Kankuro's pretty affectionate, and he tends to be a bit more hands on in public to scare guys away. I can never tell him it actually worked."

Naruto could feel his cheeks heating up. He was blushing - blushing. He was an expert people watcher and he had totally fallen for the guy's act. And then he'd spent the last few weeks fretting over whether or not to reveal his infidelity to a girl he could have been trying to woo! He did still have one question, though.

"Then why are you getting day drunk?"

His blunt accusation caused Hinata's shy nature to flare up again and this time she was the one who blushed.

"I'm at the university for Business and I had something that I'd been working on for a couple of semesters that I wanted to present to one of my professors. But I made the mistake of consulting a classmate I had worked with on a few projects and he completely stole the idea. Now the professor has been bragging about my classmate and has asked him to all kinds of networking events and I'm just frustrated. How could I be so naive?"

She had started to shrink in on herself, obviously reverting back to where she was when he'd first arrived. Fuck. What a ladykiller he was.

"Don't be sad! I'm sure you'll think of something else that's even better!"

She just glanced at him and flashed a small, pained smile. He was racking his brain trying to think of a way to cheer her back up. Finding himself at a complete loss, he decided to do something he'd witnessed work before.

He reached out and poked her in the forehead.

Startled, she reached up and put her hand in the middle of her forehead, where his finger had just prodded her.

"Did you just poke my forehead?" she asked, sounding rather incredulous.

Naruto retracted his finger, feeling stupid now that he'd actually done it. Damnit. Why did things always work for Sasuke and not him?

"Uh, yes?" he replied, sounding more like a question than a statement.

"Why?"

"Sasuke always does it to his girlfriend when she's feeling down so I, uh, you know thought I'd give it a shot."

"That's really weird," was all she said and he couldn't disagree. Come to think of it, he had no idea why Sasuke did that. Who went around poking people's foreheads?

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. I just saw you were feeling sad and I wanted to make it better but instead of making you smile I just made things really weird and now you probably don't want to go on that date tomorrow."

"You don't want to go out tomorrow?" she asked.

"No, that's not it! I just figured I'd probably scared you off by now."

"I-I don't mind if you're a little weird," she said bashfully. "I think it's sweet that you wanted to make me smile."

"Really?!" Naruto exclaimed, choosing to focus on the fact she called him sweet rather than the fact she had also called him weird.

"Mhm, and it's even kind of sweet that you were worried about my nonexistent romantic feelings for Kankuro and that you were keeping tabs on him for me."

He was blushing again, he could feel it.

"So, you'll still meet me tomorrow? For a date?"

She nodded and he was pleased to see she was smiling again.

"Great! Let me get your number then! And don't worry, I won't use it to track you or anything like that… you know what never mind. I'll just give you my number and you can decide if you still want to text me when you have less alcohol in your system."

Instead of looking horrified at his yet again unsolicited assurances, she just giggled. He rubbed the back of his head, hoping he was really lucky enough to find a girl who thought his verbal diarrhea was funny instead of unattractive. He was very pleased to hear from her a few hours later. Even more so when they met for lunch the next day and didn't leave each other's company until almost midnight.

* * *

 **I really love imagining these two in various situations, with various levels of awkward or smooth. They're just such a fun couple and I'm glad we have a month like this to celebrate them! As always, please let me know what you think! Your thoughts make this kind of thing more fun and help me know what works and what doesn't. Thank you for reading!**


	7. Flirting

**Well guys, the month kind of got away from me after things blew up at work and I wasn't able to do any more. But I wanted to get this posted since I'd already written half of it so I figured y'all wouldn't mind one last entry even if it was a little late.**

 **I'd always wanted to write a story where Hinata was the oblivious one, but never had occasion to write it in one of my stories so I was pretty excited about this.**

* * *

 **Day 12: Flirting**

It was perhaps ironic, certainly unexpected, what the rookies saw unfolding between two of their own. After years of Naruto being entirely oblivious to Hinata's affections, now it seemed it was her turn to be oblivious to his own.

It all started a couple months after the war. Things in the village had finally begun to settle and all the burials were complete. People were still mourning, but rebuilding was underway and everyone was slowly starting to move forward with their lives. This was the state of things when Naruto asked Hinata to meet him in the rebuilt training ground where they had spoken before those first Chunin Exam finals.

Hinata was practically shaking with nerves when she stepped onto the newly restructured yet familiar grounds. It seems she wasn't the only one feeling nervous as Naruto currently stood with his back to her, shuffling his feet and mumbling to himself. Even in that state he could take her breath away.

"Good afternoon, Naruto-kun," she said just loud enough for him to hear. He jumped and turned around, giving her a smile and a nervous wave.

"Hey, Hinata! I'm, uh, glad you could come."

A small smile flitted across her lips and she nodded, "Of course."

Naruto smiled back, touched by her unfailingly genuine feelings for him - the fact that it was so obvious she would be there merely because he asked. His smile fell, however, when he remembered the reason he had called her there.

"So, we haven't gotten a good chance to talk since… well, everything."

Hinata merely nodded, not trusting her voice as she understood what he was alluding to.

"I just, well, first I wanted to let you know I care about you. You're an amazing person and someone I'm proud to have by me both on the battlefield and in general. You're one of my most precious people, but I…"

He trailed off not knowing how to finish what he was saying. How did he tell her how he felt when even he didn't understand it? He'd never had any real experience with things like this. The closest was his early infatuation with Sakura, but that had long died away. He knew he cared about Hinata, but he didn't know how to determine anything other than that.

She felt torn. Her heart wanted to burst from all his praise, but she knew what he was trying to say. He cared about her, just not like _that_. Not the same way she did for him.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. I understand."

He looked at her in shock, but before he could say anything she continued, "I don't need you to feel the same way about me. It was never my intention to make you feel like you had to. I just wanted you to know how I felt. All I want is for you to be happy."

Naruto was speechless for a moment. His chest was clenching and he didn't understand why hearing her say that felt like it hurt. He should be happy, right? She was essentially letting him off the hook. She wasn't yelling at him or telling him to figure it out or getting mad that he didn't return her feelings. She just wanted him to be happy. Somehow, though, that just made the whole situation that much worse.

"Hinata, I-"

"It okay, really," she said with a forced smile. He knew she was being truthful when she said she didn't mind, but he could also tell she was hurting.

"If that's all, I think I'm going to head home."

Before she could turn to leave he stopped her.

"No! I actually wanted to tell you something else."

He was thankful for her patience. He knew he probably wouldn't have wanted to be there any longer if he was her, but she stayed and waited for him to speak.

"I'm going to be leaving for a while," he started, noting the way her head tilted in curiosity. "Baa-chan called me in yesterday and said that due to the 'current political climate' or something I've been assigned a mission to visit the other nations. She says I've been in high demand and people are wanting to meet me so it's supposed to be a way for me to do that and help strengthen our alliance."

"It'll help you make connections for when you're Hokage, too," Hinata added softly.

His chest felt warm when she said that and he remembered that she was always one of the very few who never doubted his dream.

"Yeah! Baa-chan says it's a good opportunity and that with things the way they are I really need to do this anyway so I think it should be pretty exciting. But I'll be gone six months, maybe more. That's why I wanted to tell you about it. I just wanted to say… I wanted you to know I'd miss you."

Her cheeks flushed prettily and she gave him a small, but real smile. "I'll miss you too, Naruto-kun. It won't feel the same without you."

For some reason he felt his face heating up and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. After that they quickly exchanged goodbyes and parted ways.

* * *

Hinata had been hurt, there was no escaping it. She was being truthful when she said he wasn't obligated to return her feelings, but it didn't make it hurt any less. Nevertheless, he was gone and he had even told her he was proud to have her by his side, something she'd dreamed about for the longest time. Even if it wasn't in a romantic sense, she had reached the place she had always strived to be. Given that, and his response to her feelings, she felt it was time for a new goal.

While she spent the next half a year training and working on figuring out her life trajectory - did she want to join ANBU? Become a Jonin instructor? Part of the diplomatic division? - Naruto spent it travelling.

He visited everyone from their allies in Kumo and Suna to the lesser known nations like Grass and Tea. In all that time he couldn't get the image of a lavender eyed, indigo haired young woman out of his mind. Her sad smile, her genuine desire to see him happy, all of it ran through his mind over and over. He was surrounded by women who were throwing themselves at him, but it all felt so empty in comparison to the person who had always been there, cheering him on silently from the shadows.

Shikamaru had actually been visiting Suna when Naruto was there and the Uzumaki wouldn't stop pestering him about how Hinata was doing. Unfortunately all the shadow user would tell him was that she was "busy." It wasn't until the last stop of his journey, when his host was asking him if there was anything in particular he was looking forward to getting back to upon his return home, that Naruto realized his feelings. Without even thinking he had responded with her name. Not Ichiraku, not his friends, but _her_. His host had given him a knowing smile and a wink, teasing him about all the heartbroken girls he would be leaving in his wake. It had been the wake up call Naruto was needing and he had rushed back ready and eager to see her again.

When he'd returned, however, things had changed. Hinata no longer hid herself under baggy clothes and behind her teammates. She no longer walked around with her face hidden beneath her bangs and fingers poking together. She now wore shorts - shorts that would have pleased Ino - and a sleeveless kimono style top that was fitted to her body. Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her walking down the street, smiling and waving at the people who greeted her in passing.

His eyes went from wide to slitted in suspicion as he saw a young man around their age walk up and hand her a flower. She smiled sweetly at him and thanked him, apparently not noticing the blush on the man's face as she walked away. As she continued down the road she acted like it was completely normal for the teenager who worked the counter at one of the bakeries to run out the door and hand her a small bag with her favorite pastry. She hugged him in thanks before promising to stop by soon and heading on her way.

Naruto was floored.

He suddenly realized she would be coming his way and dashed into the nearest alleyway, poking his head out to watch her as she passed by, humming happily and munching on pieces of the cinnamon roll in her bag.

"Is there a reason you are hiding in the alley?" said a voice from behind him. Naruto jumped and screamed so shrill that Kurama began to laugh at him in his mindscape. When he turned to face the source of the voice he was breathing heavily, trying to calm his heart rate.

"Fuck, Sai, you can't do that!"

Sai just tilted his head, "Do what?"

Naruto just sighed, not wanting to waste his breath on explaining why it wasn't okay to sneak up on someone when Sai would undoubtedly say something infuriating about his shinobi skills in response. Instead he said, "Nothing. How've you been? What are you doing here?"

"In this alley? I was looking for you. One of my mice said you had returned and told me where you were. I was doubting it, but I should have realized my mice would not have made an error like this. Which led me to wonder why you were here. Were you hiding from a jilted woman? Ino tells me sometimes men hide when they see a woman they have betrayed - usually in a sexual manner - in order to avoid an unpleasant confrontation."

Before Naruto could even react in indignance, Sai frowned and continued his musing.

"Hmm, no, that wouldn't make sense. You just returned to town so you would not have had much time to sleep around. Unless your small penis renders you unable to keep it up for very long. In which case I would have to adjust my calculations."

"Shut up!" Naruto cried in exasperation. "Can't you just welcome me back like a normal friend? With a 'Hey it's good to see you' or 'It's been so long, I'm glad you're back'?

"I can certainly make those notes for the next occasion. I'll have to discuss them further with Ino and see if she can add anything."

It was the second time Sai had mentioned the Yamanaka and Naruto's curiosity got the better of him.

"Ino?"

"Yes," Sai nodded, "Ino and I have a weekly lunch where we meet to discuss the intricacies of human interaction over delicious food. I share some of my notes and observations from the previous week and she helps me interpret my findings. It has been most educational."

His teammate called it educational, but Naruto could see the slight blush dusting across his pale skin. It was weird, but he figured he'd let it pass. Especially since Sai said he had been making observations. Maybe _he_ could give him some information on what Hinata had been up to.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. So, you mentioned you've been taking notes? Do you happen to have anything in there on Hinata?"

"Oh, is she the one you are hiding from? I did see her pass by just a couple minutes ago. Is she the woman you jilted? I am surprised she allowed you to have intercourse with her considering I have not known her to allow anyone else that privilege. And it's not for lack of trying! These men are rather persistent when it comes to her."

Naruto's hands clenched and Sai's training was the only reason he didn't immediately notice the killing intent leaking from him.

"What exactly are these guys trying?"

"They would like to have intercourse with her. It's pretty obvious from what Ino is telling me, but apparently Hinata does not seem to notice."

Naruto's anger increased in intensity and Sai took notice.

"Hm, it seems you are upset by my news. Is it because you are jealous? I have read that jealousy can cause one to become angry. Are you worried she will allow these men to have intercourse with her since she allowed you?"

"I didn't have sex with her!" Naruto exclaimed, reminding himself to be quiet enough not to attract attention.

"I see. My mistake. So you are concerned that one of these men will manage to have sex with her before you?"

"Sai, I'm not trying to have sex with her."

"Oh. You do not want to have intercourse with Hinata? That is interesting, I'll need to write that down."

Naruto grabbed the pen out of Sai's hand and snapped it in half. Unfortunately, Sai pulled another out of one of his pockets and merely smiled at him with his eyes closed before beginning to jot something down in his notebook. The blond saw him mouth the word "dickless" and snapped.

"Damnit Sai, it's not that I don't want to sleep with her. There are just a lot of other things I'd like to do with her as well."

Sai raised an eyebrow and kept scribbling. "I see, it seems your sensei's perverted ways have now been passed down to the student."

Naruto had finally had enough and he grabbed the notebook out of his teammate's hands. He ripped out the latest page and tore it to pieces before using a wind style jutsu to demolish it completely. Sai looked from Naruto to the destroyed page and blinked.

"I see. I believe you are frustrated now, yes?"

The blond sighed and tried to remind himself that Sai was still learning. He would have to have a talk with Ino about how ineffective her learning sessions were. If Sai's blush earlier had been anything to go by, maybe he could convince her to make them a more common occurrence and give them a nudge in the right direction.

"Look, can we keep this between us guys?"

Sai nodded slowly, "I have heard about this. Something about a bro code, I believe. Guy talk stays between guys."

"Yeah, sure, that's it," Naruto said. "Look you're my friend and I think," he paused, feeling like he might regret this, "I might need some advice."

Sai's eyes widened at the word 'friend'. His face went from blank to serious in seconds and he was ready to listen and provide whatever guidance he could.

"So, according to you, men have started to approach Hinata?"

Sai nodded, letting Naruto continue without interrupting.

"Does she, I mean, has she ever made it seem like she's interested in any of them?"

The former Root shinobi thought for a moment before shaking his head. When Naruto's shoulders slumped in relief he felt the need to ask a question.

"Why are you interested in her suitors? Did you not let her know you were not interested in her before you left?"

Naruto's head shot up and he looked at Sai suspiciously, "How did you know that?"

"Ino was ranting about it at one of our meetings. She seemed upset for Hinata. I still do not quite understand why, but I do remember her saying Hinata was brokenhearted. She had to explain that it was not a medical condition as I asked why Sakura had not seen to it."

The Uzumaki's head was now hanging and he put his hands in his hair.

"This news has distressed you?"

"Sai… I messed up. I wanted to talk to Hinata before I left, but then it wasn't until I was gone that I realized I, well, you know..."

"I do not know," he replied and Naruto sighed.

"I care about her, okay? And not the same way I care about you guys. I don't understand it really, but I know it's different. But now she thinks I don't and I don't know what to do."

This was it. This was Sai's time to put all that reading and research to good use. He was quiet for a moment, not wanting to give bad advice to someone who considered him a friend.

"Well, I would say first of all that you simply can't tell her how you feel."

"Why not?"

"One, you are not able to explain it fully yourself. Two, you told her before you left that you did not feel that way about her. It would seem odd to suddenly express those feelings for her now that you have returned."

Naruto nodded slowly and Sai was pleased with himself for doing well so far.

"Okay then, what do you suggest?"

Sai thought for another moment before pulling out and consulting his notebook.

"Well, in the animal kingdom it is common for males to prove themselves the better mate. However, you have already proven yourself as stronger than most anyone in this village. Your orange clothing and bright hair are already colorful enough to attract female attention and you seem well on your way to becoming Hokage.

"As you seem to have distinguished yourself properly I believe your next action needs to be to make her aware of your interest."

"But you said I can't tell her how I feel."

"Yes, that is true. I think you should, as they call it, flirt."

"Flirt?"

"Yes. According to my notes flirting is a series of actions and verbal interactions that express interest in another person either romantically or sexually. I believe if you flirt with Hinata then she will start to understand your feelings. Then, eventually when you tell her it will not come as a shock."

Naruto was quiet for a few minutes, mulling all of this over. Sai hid his nervousness the best he could. This was the first time someone had asked him for advice not relating to either fighting or art.

"Yosh!" the blond exclaimed with fire in his eyes. "I will flirt with her so well she won't even know what hit her!"

Sai smiled, happy at his friends familiar determination. It had been strange seeing the usually cheerful shinobi so taciturn.

"Uh, there's just one problem," the Uzumaki said, breaking Sai out of his thoughts. "I don't really know how to flirt."

"I was under the impression that Master Jiraiya was particularly well versed in the subject."

"Heh, yeah he was, but I didn't pay it any mind. I was just focused on getting stronger. When he went out I always stayed behind to train."

"I see. In that case I have a book you can borrow," he said, pleased yet again when he saw Naruto smile at him.

"Thanks Sai, you're a good friend."

* * *

A few days later, Naruto was making his way to the welcome back party Sakura and Ino had decided to throw him.

Hinata was going to be there tonight - he'd triple checked with Sakura and even though it had gotten him a couple of suspicious looks, she had confirmed the Hyuga would be there. This would be the first time he interacted with her since her return. He'd almost run into her a few times, but managed to stay away until he could finish the book he'd borrowed. Tonight was the night to start putting it to work.

It was a pretty small gathering, mainly the Konoha 12 as well as some of their previous teachers like Kurenai and Iruka. As people filed in, Naruto told himself to relax. He'd decided to try just one thing at a time - kind of ease into the whole flirting thing.

When he saw her across the room, dressed in an informal Kimono, his breath had caught in his throat. The dark blue material complimented her hair and the light purple belt matched her eyes. She wore her hair down, some pinned back with a small flower. She was absolutely stunning and he quickly found that he had crossed the room to where she was chatting with Ino and TenTen without even realizing he was moving.

They all stopped their conversation to look at him and he remembered the first rule in the book: smile. Smiling was apparently the best way to make yourself seem approachable and imply that you are pleased with their company. So he formed one of his largest smiles and waved.

"Hello Hinata!" he said through his smile.

She waved back, smiling sweetly back at him. "It's good to see you, Naruto," she said and he smiled even wider. They stood there, looking at each other for a few moments before TenTen coughed and Ino interjected with a, "What are we, chopped liver?"

"Oh!" Naruto said sheepishly, a little surprised he had managed to forget they were there. "Sorry about that, hey guys! Glad all of you could make it."

He continued to smile, even as Ino's narrowing eyes made him worry. He glanced back at Hinata who also seemed to be looking at him strangely. He didn't realize his face looked like it was plastered in place and he had hardly blinked since he arrived. Instead he figured that perhaps the smiling was not enough? The book had also mentioned giving compliments. He should be able to do that.

Looking back at Hinata he said, "You look amazing tonight."

Ino snorted before TenTen said, "What do you mean _tonight_? Are you saying she doesn't usually look nice?"

His eyes widened and he sputtered, trying to correct the horrible misunderstanding. "No! No, I just noticed she looked different than usual. It's a good different."

"So her normal look isn't good enough for you or something?" Ino said menacingly.

This was becoming a disaster.

"That's not it! She's always beautiful. I just wanted her to know I noticed she was here and thought she looked especially pretty!"

The two girls smirked at the outburst and Hinata's cheeks had gained a pinkish hue. The Hyuga, who had been quiet for the whole encounter, finally put Naruto's fears to rest as she smiled shyly and thanked him.

"You're welcome," he said, before remembering that he needed to smile again. He didn't notice the girls looking at him oddly as he plastered the smile back on his face.

"I, uh, I'm going to say hi to some more people. I'll see you guys later!" he said and bolted away, leaving three rather confused young women in his wake.

* * *

He saw her again the next day, and made a beeline for her. He didn't want to waste any time now that he'd finished that book.

"Hey Hinata!" he greeted, flashing another smile. "Long time no see!" he said, joking. The book had said that girls love a good sense of humor.

The Hyuga tilted her head and replied, "Oh, I was at your party last night. You were pretty busy though so maybe you didn't remember."

She looked a little downtrodden at the idea and Naruto panicked.

"I didn't forget! I was just… nevermind it was stupid."

She nodded and they began to walk side by side down the street. The Uzumaki thought he would try another tactic from the book and decided to ask her about her day so far.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much," she said with a shrug, "just browsing the marketplace."

The book had said that asking for details demonstrated that you found them interesting.

"Were you looking at anything in particular?"

"Oh, no, just a stall here or there."

She was making it kind of hard to get details.

"Which stalls? What kind of things were you looking for? Did you buy anything?"

Hinata blinked at the sudden onslaught of questioning and slid her glance over to the blond. He was looking at her eagerly so she tried to answer his questions. He continued to grill her, however, and wasn't fully satisfied until she had basically given him a blow by blow account of her morning so far. It was a little strange, but she shrugged it off, just happy he was back in the village.

They stopped at another stall and he saw her looking rather intently at one of the items for sale. It was a flower preserved in some kind of crystal-like thing. It was some kind of decoration or something and when he asked what it was for, she giggled. His ears turned pink, embarrassed that she thought his question was silly, but she explained it was just something nice to look at before turning away from the stall and continuing down the road.

Naruto hesitated to follow, looking at the item she had seemed interested in, before picking up the item and leaving a few coins to pay for it. He stuck it in his pocket, excited that he had found yet another occasion to use something from the book and now had a gift to give her.

When he got caught up with her, however, he was annoyed to find out she had been stopped by the same young man he had seen give her a flower the other day. He'd read in that book that giving a girl a flower was another way of flirting and he didn't appreciate this guy trying anything.

As he walked up beside her he heard her say, "Thank you, Haru! This is so sweet." The young man smiled back at her and started to say something more until Naruto directed some menacing energy his way. The stranger paled at the look in Naruto's eyes and he quickly bid Hinata goodbye before leaving.

"Hm, that was strange," she said, smelling the flower as she twirled it in her hands.

"Who was that?" Naruto said, sounding harsher than he intended. Hinata didn't notice the tone and said, "Oh, that's just Haru. He sometimes brings me a flower."

"Why?" the Uzumaki asked again, wondering if she understood the meaning behind it.

"Does he need a reason? I think he's just being nice."

Naruto pursed his lips at her obliviousness. Did this mean if he gave her a gift she would think he was just being nice as well? He decided to test it.

"Here," he said as he handed her the small decoration he had purchased for her. Hinata's eyes widened and Naruto felt hopeful for a moment that she understood his intentions, until she shook her head and said, "Thank you! That's so sweet of you. But I should be the one getting you something. After all, you're the one who just returned from a long mission."

"No, that's not what - "

"Why don't you let me buy you some ramen. It's the least I can do to pay you back and welcome you home!"

She sounded so sincere and determined that he didn't have it in him to refuse her. Instead he followed her to his favorite restaurant and tried to brainstorm a way to make her understand how he felt.

* * *

He found Hinata in a convenient store a week later, standing on tiptoe trying to reach for something on the top shelf.

He brushed against her lightly as he reached up to grab the item and let his hand linger slightly when he handed it to her. He was hoping to see some kind of reaction to his physical closeness - she couldn't have completely gotten over the blushing and fainting, right? - as even he could feel his heartbeat accelerating and his body warming at the contact.

Instead she just smiled at him and thanked him before checking her items against her list and moving down the aisle.

Naruto sighed.

* * *

Later that week, the Uzumaki saw Hinata walk into a cafe. He crossed the street and walked in after her, telling the cashier he was going to pay for her food. Sai's book said paying for a girl's food was a more obvious sign of flirting.

"You don't have to do that!" the Hyuga said, trying to assure him that she didn't need him to pay for her.

"I know, but I want to," he said, feeling proud of himself.

Until the cashier gave him the total and his eyes widened. How was she going to eat that much?!

"Would you like to join us?" Hinata asked.

"Huh?" Naruto said, jerked out of his train of thought.

"Would you like to join us for lunch? It's only right to offer. You'll at least have to stop by the table so Kiba and Shino can thank you for getting their food."

"Kiba and Shino?" Naruto said absentmindedly, his eyes scanning the restaurant until they came to rest on the two shinobi in question. One smiled and waved cockily while the other looked at him knowingly.

"Oh! Uh, sure, I'll come sit with you guys," he said, realizing his gesture had once again gone completely over her head as he had unknowingly paid for her team lunch.

* * *

A month or so later, Naruto was frustrated. He had tried everything he could find in that stupid book and nothing worked. At this point all of their mutual friends knew about his affections for her and when they weren't busy teasing him about it, were actually trying to help.

Hell, they'd even gone on a few outings that most would consider dates and she would just tell him how glad she was that she got to spend time with one of her friends like that. It was infuriating. Finally, he had decided to toss the book and Sai's advice out the window, and talk to Hinata. He wasn't good with subtlety anyway.

He showed up at the gate of the Hyuga compound and sent a message inside inquiring whether she would join him on a walk. Much to his relief, she came out just a few minutes later and he led them to a park.

After walking and chatting for a while, Naruto placed his hand on the small of Hinata's back and guided her toward a bench. They sat in silence for a few minutes, just observing their surroundings.

"Hey, Hinata?" he said hesitantly, kind of nervous now that he was here.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I, uh, I just want you to know that I like you."

"I like you, too, Naruto."

She said it so casually he knew she had missed his meaning.

"No, I mean I care about you."

"I care about you, too. You're a precious friend."

He sighed. How was he supposed to get through to her? Naruto looked around and noticed other couples walking by. Suddenly he had an idea.

"Hey, what do you see over there?" he said, pointing to a couple by an ice cream cart. The man paid for some of the frozen treat and handed it to his delighted girlfriend who hugged him and began to eat.

"I see a guy buying his girlfriend some ice cream."

"What makes you say she's his girlfriend?"

"Um, I don't know. I suppose because they were holding hands. And now they're sharing the ice cream off the same spoon."

Alright. He needed to try again. "What about them?" he asked as he pointed to a boy who was shyly offering a girl some flowers he had just picked.

"Aww," Hinata cooed, watching the two preteens as they blushed and talked, "he likes her."

"How can you tell?" Naruto asked, curious as to how she could notice those feelings in others, but not in those around her.

"He gave her flowers. And their blushing and can't stop smiling around one another. It's pretty obvious."

Naruto wanted to roll his eyes at her last statement, but decided to point out one more.

"What about them?" he asked, now pointing to an older couple as they strolled slowly along a path. The man was supporting the woman as she had trouble walking at her age. They were talking quietly and smiling at one another.

"What a beautiful couple," Hinata said, a little wistfully.

"How can you tell?" he asked one last time.

"You can see by the way he looks at her. She's his everything."

They sat a minute longer, watching the couple as they continued on their way.

"So, uh, do I smile at you?" he asked.

"Um, yes, all the time," she replied.

"And have I given you flowers and bought you treats?" he asked.

"Yes you have."

"How do I look at you, Hinata?"

Surprised by the question she turned to face him. The look in his eyes stole her breath away.

Naruto felt completely exposed. He was essentially letting all his guards down, trying to show her how deep and how strong his feelings for her were without having to say it out loud. He wanted her to see for herself how he felt and if letting her see inside him was the only way to do it then so be it.

Tears started to gather on the corner of her eyes and she whispered, "What? But I thought - I mean, you said - " She wasn't able to finish her thought.

Naruto took her hands in his, and said, "Look, I know what I said before I left. And I know how that made you feel and I feel terrible about it because I know now that I was wrong - so wrong - and it's just that I didn't understand it at the time."

"It's kind of hard to accept, after everything," she said shakily.

"I know. I'm not good at this kind of thing. All I know is what I read in Sai's book and I tried really hard to show you how I felt by using it, but it just never seemed to get through."

"I'm sorry. I just thought you were being nice. I did notice you seemed a little more, um, flirtatious I guess? But after our talk I thought I was just imagining things. I didn't realize you were trying to tell me something because I thought you would never feel that way."

She was shaking slightly and Naruto was suddenly glad he had taken Sai's advice. Even if it hadn't worked out quite like he had hoped, this whole conversation was just proving it would have been even worse if he'd tried to do this right when he got back. He was afraid to ask his next question.

"Do you - do you still love me?"

He sounded so vulnerable and it reminded Hinata that she was not the only one feeling overwhelmed. She wasn't able to speak for the moment, but she nodded. She would always love him.

Relief washed over him and he thanked everything good that he hadn't lost his chance. He put his hands on either side of her face and tilted her head up so that he was looking in her eyes. His heart hurt as he saw the few tears escaping her eyes and he used his thumb to wipe them away. He could see her emotions reflected his own and he knew now was the time.

"I love you," he said, and he relished in the sharp intake of her breath as well as her darkened cheeks.

"I'm going to kiss you now," he whispered, leaning in close and waiting a moment to see if she had any objections. Instead she licked her lips and he dove in, a feeling of euphoria overcoming him as their lips connected for the first time. Her mouth was warm and soft and if he didn't feel so amazing he would have been a little self conscious about his chapped lips.

They broke apart as cheering erupted around them. He threw his arms around her protectively and they both looked around, shocked they hadn't noticed the presence of their friends well before then.

"Finally!" Sakura yelled as she and Ino hugged. Everyone rushed over to congratulate them and the new couple found themselves smiling uncontrollably as they were surrounded by their ecstatic loved ones.

Sai smiled as he watched everyone interact. He couldn't stop his gaze from straying to Ino, wondering if perhaps Naruto could give him some advice in return now that he had managed to get together with Hinata. As he looked at his friend and teammate, he found his smile was contagious and he made his way towards him to congratulate him as well.

* * *

 **There you have it! I didn't write as many entries this year as I'd hoped, but I hope I made up for it somewhat with length. I loved getting to write a bit of Sai in this. He cracks me up and I think his awkwardness and desire to be a good friend is kind of adorable.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think and I will be burying myself in my other stories from here on out. Check them out if you're interested! I'm working on a plan to update more frequently so maybe you'll be seeing them in your feed :-)**


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